Today’s Highlights:
City Center Encore‘s Oliver, directed by Lear deBessonet, featuring Lilli Cooper (Nancy), Raúl Esparza (Fagin), Tam Mutu (Bill Sikes), Brad Oscar (Mr. Bumble), Benjamin. Pajak (Oliver Twist), and Mary Testa (Widow Corney), with William Thhomas Colin, Charity Angel Dawson, Julian Marcus DeGuzman), Zachary Downer, Sam Duncan, William Foon, Ethen Green-Younger, Jeff Kready, Jenny Laroche, Devin Miles Lugo, Morgan Marcell, Lindsay Roberts, Eliseo Roman, Michael Cash Savio, and Jacob Keith Watson, opens.
Race: The Movie: The Play, by Brett Raybould & Cristian Duran, directed by Duran, featuring Raybould (Wyatt Saveyer), Dean Edwards (Gene Yus), Eagle Witt (Stretch), Thee Suburbia (Pyler Terry’s Damea), Nick Whitmer (Ray Cist), Amanda Van Nostrand (Jen Trifier), Patrice Battey-Simon (Tuwoke), Menhin Hart (D-Jango), Quan Wiggins (King T’Challa-Latte), Andre D Thompson (Don Freeman), David Healy (Wyatt Devil), Derek Humphrey (Max Hayte & Mick E. Mouse), R. Alex Murray (Judge Hughbythecolorofyourskin), Rhyis Knight (Thanus), and Justin Dinkins (Oscar Beatty), with Brian Simmons, opens at Off-Broadway’s SoHo Playhouse.
Melissa Li and Kit Yan in concert opens at Lincoln Center’s Clare Tow Theater.
Bleak Expectations, a Charles Dickens mashup by Mark Evans, directed by Caroline Leslie, featuring Ashh Blackwood (Agnes Bin/Flora Dies-Early), Shane David-Joseph (Thomas Bin/Blakewell Havertwitch/Broadway Fecund), J.J. Henry (Harry Biscuit), John Hopkins (Gently Benevolent), Dom Hodson (Pip Bin), Serena Manteghi (Pippa Bin), Marc Pickering (The Hardthrashers), and rachel Summers (Pippa Bin/Ripely Fecund), with guest stars every week, begins previews at London’s Criterion Theatre.
MasterVoice‘s Iolanthe concert, directed & conducted by Ted Sperling, featuring David Garrison (Lord Chancellor), Christine Ebersole (Queen of the Fairies), Shereen Ahmed (Iolanthe), Schyler Bargas (Strephon), Ashley Fabian (Phyllis), Santino Fontana (George, The Earl of Mountararat), Jason Danieley (Thomas, The Earl of Tolloller), Phillip boykin (Private Willis), and others to be cast from the Master Voices Chorus, at 7 PM at NYC’s Carnegie Hall.
Theatre West’s Esther: The Great Enabler FREE Zoom reading, by Benjamin Scuglia, featuring Sheila Shaw and Anne Leyden, at 7:30 PM PT. RSVP not required. Zoom Meeting ID: 829 2375 8392/Passcode: 859134
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Broadway Grosses for the week ending Apr. 30. Click here for the complete analysis.
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Tony nominations, show by show. Click here.
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John J. Caswell Jr.’s Wet Brain will run May 17 – June 25 (opening June 6) at MCC Theater, directed by Dustin Wills.
Frankie J. Alvarez (Ron), Ceci Fernández (Angelina), Florencia Lozano (Mona), Julio Monge (Joe), and Arturo Luis Soria (Ricky).
In a crumbling house in Arizona, a family haunted by addiction — and hardened into smart-asses — wrestles with the alcoholic ruin of its patriarch… who may or may not be repeatedly abducted by aliens.
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PBS‘ “Great Performances at 50: Broadway’s Best” will air Fri. May 12 at 9 PM (check local listings), hosted by Sutton Foster. The concert was filmed at Lincoln Center, offering a revue of milestone shows and songs from 1973 to 2023.
Chita Rivera, Sara Bareilles, Vanessa Williams, Shoshana Bean, Raúl Esparza, Ledisi, Norm Lewis, Rob McClure, Patina Miller, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jessie Mueller, Mamie Parris, Solea Pfeiffer, Britton Smith, andJessica Vosk.
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Tom Fowler’s Hope has a Happy Meal will run June 3 – July 8 (opening June 9) at the Royal Court Theatre, directed by Lucy Morrison.
Laura Checkley, Mary Malone, Amaka Okafor, Felix Scott, and Nima Taleghani.
Years and years ago, Hope disappeared. Now, she’s back. To find something she lieft behind. But in the People’s Republic of Koka Kola – a world of dwindling resources, corruption and corporate giants – what happens to Hope?
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Bob Fosse’s DANCIN’ will close Sun. May 14 at Broadway’s Music Box Theatre, after 17 previews and 65 regular performances, directed & musically staged by Wayne Cilento.
Ioana Alfonso, Yeman Brown, Peter John Chursin, Dylis Croma, Jovan Dansberry, Karli Dinardo, Tony d’Alelio, Aydin Eyikan, Pedro Garza, Jacob Guzman, Manuel Herrera, Afra Hines, Gabriel Hyman, Kolton Krouse, Mattie Love, Krystal Mackie, Yani Marin, Nando Morland, Khori Michelle Petinaud, Ida Saki, Ron Todorowski, and Neka Zang.
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DC’s Arena Stage has announced its annual Voices of Now Festival, to run May 17-20.
A 4-night showcase of new plays written & performed by 9 ensembles of young and emerging artists (ages 11-28) from D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.
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Video: J. Harrison Ghee, Natasha Yvette Williams, Christian Borle, and the cast of Some Like It Hot perform “What Are You Thirsty For?”‘ on the “Today Show.”
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Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will run June 2-25 (opening June 3) at CA’s La Mirada Theatre, directed & choreographed by Jerry McIntyre, with music direction by Jennifer Lin.
Casting TBA.
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Video: Phillipa Soo and company perform “The Lusty Month of May” in Broadway’s Camelot.
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L.A. Theater Works presents live readings of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” May 19-21 at UCLA James Bridge’s Theatre, adapted by Anna Lyse Erikson, and directed by Rosalind Ayres.
TBA
Set in Jazz Age New York, self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby is consumed with desire for Daisy Buchanan, drawing new neighbor Nick Carraway into their world of lavish wealth, wild parties and free-flowing liquor.
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Manhattan Theatre Club‘s Summer, 1976 , starring Laura Linney, Jessica Hecht, has extended its run for a second time, now through June 18 at Broadway’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
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Initial casting has been announced for the world premiere of George Fenton, Christopher Hampton & Don Black’s The Third Man, to run June 10 – Sept. 9 (opening June 19) at the Menier Chocolate Factory, directed by Trevor Nunn.
Edward Baker-Duly (Calloway), Simon Bailey (Crabbit), Natalie Dunne (Anna), Derek Griffiths (The Porter), Jonathan Andrew Hume (Paine), Rachel Izen (The Porter’s Wife), Gary Milner (Kurtz), Harry Morrison (Popescu), Sam Underwood (Holly), Alan Vicary (Dr. Winkel), and more TBA.
The musical is set in post-war Vienna as Holly Martins arrives at the invitation of his friend and hero, Harry Lime, only to discover that Harry has been killed in a car accident.
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A theatrical screening of Broadway’s Mr. Saturday Night will take place Tue. May 23 at 6 PM, in person & online at NYC’s 92Y.
Billy Crystal
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Complete casting has been announced for The Who’s Tommy, to run June 13 – July 23 (opening June 26) at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, directed by Des McAnuff, with choreography by Lorin Latarro, and music supervision by Ron Melrose.
Ali Lous Bourzgui (Tommy), Adam Jacobs (Captain Walker), Alison Luff (Mrs. Walker), John Ambrosino (Uncle Ernie), Bobby Conte (Cousin Kevin), and Christina Sajous (Acid Queen), with Jeremiah Alsop, Stephen Brower, Haley Gustafson, Sheldon Henry, Aliah James, Gabriel Kearns, Tassy Kirbas Lily Kren, Nathan Lucrezio, Alexandra Matteo, Morgan McGhee, Mark Mitrano, Reagan Pender, Daniel Quadrino, Jenna Nicole Schoen, Zach Sorrow, Ayana Strutz, and Andrew Tufano. Young Tommy is played as a child and a pre-adolescent by the following actors in rotation: Ava Rose Doty, Presley Rose Jones, Annabel Finch, and Ezekiel Ruiz.